Anyone here heard of Roger Lafond, WW2 French soldier who is grandmaster of Savate

[Frankthetank1]

Yes I have, in a documentary, it might have been the same one from the History channel.

I think they might mention him also either at the fight quest or human weapon episodes about Savate.

 

[Frankthetank1]

Yes I have, in a documentary, it might have been the same one from the History channel.

I think they might mention him also either at the fight quest or human weapon episodes about Savate.

 

[SailorSaturn]

and saved Savate from dying? Although we generally think of martial arts as an Asian only phenomenon, every country had its own special martial art and France is no exception with its martial art style savate. The most famous currently living figure of Savate is Professeur Roger Lafond, a veteran of World War 2 and a survivor of German concentration camps.


Professeur Roger Lafond is The living Legend of the French martial art of Savate. With Savate entwined in his family since the time of Casseux. He learned from both his Father Eugene Lafond II and Grand Father Eugene Lafond I who was a student of Micheal Casseux, Hubert Lecour as well as Hubert Lebroucher.

In World War 2, Roger Lafond was fighting in the Battle of France and was captured as prisoner of war and sent to a German camp for POWs. While there, he continued training in his unarmed combat skills while teaching other Prisoners of War the fundamentals of Savate. The Germans soon noticed Lafond as he trained and and taught other POWs Savate. Thus the Germans later tried to force Lafond to teach German soldiers the French martial art(because it was so deadly). Lafond refused to teach German soldiers the French martial art and as a result was sent to a concentration camp for forced labor. Despite being in such terrible place and forced to work while only being able to eat such meager rations, Lafond's spirit was high. His love for Savate was so strong that whatever miseries and tortures the German camp guards inflicted on him such as starvation and malnutrition, Lafond continued to practice Savate and teaching other Frenchmen in the concentration camp the art. He was practicing Savate with such determination despite starving and facing other horrible conditions in the camp that the concentration camp's soldiers later gave Lafond the title of " THE Sports Fuhrer"

After WW2, Lafond realized that Savate was being lost due to much of masters of the art being killed in World Wars 1 and 2 and being a shortage of teachers around to spread it. As it was something so ingrained in his family blood line and his nature, Lafond refused to let Savate died. He started hosting classes in Paris to teach new generations of French men the art and opened seven schools throughout France to spread the art and allow it to flourish during the 1960s and 1970s. Thanks to his perseverance not to let the art die, Savate not only survived with a new generations of hardcore practitioners but it is now slowly becoming such a big sport in France that French TV Stations are now hosting national fights and the French schools recently added Savate as an official sport. Savate is indeed now slowly spreading throughout the world and is gaining a hardcore following in the world.

This particular section from a history channel documentary has shows Roger Lafond training some Americans in the art(its around 8:00-10:00):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c1AIPi3gEQ&feature=player_embedded


This article explains a bit on Roger Lafond.
http://www.savate.biz/true%20Profess...f%20Savate.htm

And this is an old video where Lafond shows Savate techniques:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKDkBlKEY1g&feature=player_embedded

Currently Roger Lafond teaches Savate and is currently the only Savateur with the honor of having the Golden Gloves rank (in Savate ranking is based on glove color) which is the equivalent of Grandmaster in Savate.
He is known by every person who practices Savate.
@ Frank the tank- What do you think of how Lafond risked his life just to preserve Savate?

 

[oddball]

No one has heard of him except you